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Friday, 24 April 2015

Katie Hopkins - You’re A Liar

After a Twitter silence for all of four days, and to the dismay of all those who wished it might have become permanent, Katie Hopkins has returned, mouth motoring along, to continue demonising anyone who might vote for the rotten lefties, and to try desperately to explain away the severely adverse reaction to her last Sun column. In pursuit of this, she gives the impression of momentary contrition, but in reality, still doesn’t care.

Look whose reputation Katie is shredding

Under the heading “Use Your Migrant Outrage” - perhaps the Sun got a sub to put in something less confrontational than “Stuff” - Ms Hopkins tells “I am grateful to the Sun for letting me speak my mind, and for all the letters of support from my readers”. There was more than one? But, as Clive James might have said, I digress. She then tells “I am also reassured that the EU action plan for this crisis reflects my own views”.

Really? Does it compare refugees to “cockroaches”? Does it say that they are “spreading like norovirus on a cruise ship”? Does it call them a “plague of feral humans”? Does it say that towns across the EU “are festering sores, plagued by swarms of migrants and asylum seekers, shelling out benefits like Monopoly money”? Do they say we should “threaten [refugees] with violence until they bugger off”?

Well, no they don’t, but Ms Hopkins wants you all to know that she’s a victim, too. “This has been a cautionary tale. I am reminded of the power of the pen … One should be brave enough to speak out [yeah, it’s dead brave shooting your mouth off in the Sun] but aware of the dangers which lurk in the depths of our vocabulary … No one wants to see images of children drowned at sea, no matter what their journey or their destination”.

And to that I call bullshit. Who was it who said “NO. I don’t care. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in the water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad … I still don’t care”. She doesn’t want to see them - but if she does, she doesn’t care. And it gets worse. “The next time you are thinking about clicking on a petition, don’t be angry about words”. There, you see, it’s only a few words!

The same kind of words, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has reminded us, which were used in the run-up to the Rwandan genocide. The same words which may be in breach of Article 20 of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states “Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law”.

Article 20, we are reminded, was “rooted in the desire to outlaw the type of anti-Semitic and other racially based hate speech used by the Nazi media during the 1930s”. All of which means that the next time Katie Hopkins blubbers “Accept our opinions differ”, less and less people will be taken in by her weaselly wriggling, and will see her ranting for what it is: self-publicity and self-aggrandisement by the use of racist hate speech.

Katie Hopkins is not merely loathsome. She is also a liar. And not even a very good liar.

Stewart Lee and Richard Herring used to do a routine in which Herring, accused of some illegal and/or immoral and/or disgusting activity, would launch into a passionate defence, typically going "Aah, but who is the real villain here? Me, with my harmless [activity], or is it the BUSINESSMAN, in his SUIT AND TIE?", before going into a cliched 6th form rant about the evils of 'the system'. Then Lee would haul him in, pointing out that it wasn't the stereotypical businessman, but him who was the real villain. On account of being, well, real.

Hopkins seems to be doing this here. "Me, with my harmless column read by millions, demonising thousands, or YOU, signing your petition, asking one person to wind their neck in?".

Of all the 'sins' committed by the Sun, the fact that it so obviously and shamelessly takes its own readers for complete mugs is surely the worst of them all. This is a perfect example and leaves me wondering, yet again, why anyone could possibly want to read it let alone be influenced by it.